


Look At The Horizon Glow

by scout (scout_eki)



Series: Dreamnoblade One Shots [31]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - College/University, Comfort No Hurt, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings, Panic Attacks, Protectiveness, School Dances, Social Anxiety, creepy men, this is to make up for the angst last time, uh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-21 23:28:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30029526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scout_eki/pseuds/scout
Summary: But now, as the two make their way in a slow circle, Techno can’t say he’s mad about the late nights he spent getting his toes stepped on. The world around the two falls away, ruby eyes continuously locked with emerald as they go through the steps that are all muscle memory by now. There’s no teenage clumsiness, no laughing at messed up parts一no Techno basking in the sound of wheezing laughter, wondering what the warmth in his chest meant一, it was only well-practiced movements with two very comfortable partners.It was perfect.Or: 5 times Techno and Dream pretended they were dating and the 1 time they actually were
Relationships: Clay | Dream/Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF)
Series: Dreamnoblade One Shots [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1991563
Comments: 25
Kudos: 518





	Look At The Horizon Glow

**Author's Note:**

> I speed ran this in a couple hours, somehow (definitely has to do with the lack of homework I had today)
> 
> anyways this is just like pure fluff to make up for the angst I last wrote
> 
> title is from "Midnight City" by M83
> 
> WARNING // there are vague mentions of panic attacks, as well as a creepy man (like caging one of them in until they give him his number sort of thing), but it's nothing too bad

The first time it happened, it was a joke.

The two college students were eating at their favorite diner一the $5 meals _totally_ weren’t the reason it was so high on their lists一when a sudden cheering erupted at a table nearby. When they glanced over, a french fry halfway to Dream’s mouth, they were met with an elderly couple receiving a cake, with “Happy Anniversary!” written in blue icing.

They listened in as the couple immediately began stuttering, half-assed refusals mixing with multiple synonyms of “what?” The waitress who brought the cake over, a kind-looking middle aged woman, laughed before responding. “You gotta have cake to celebrate your anniversary! It’s on the house, no need to fret.” With wide smiles and surprised eyes, the couple thanked the woman before turning back to their food.

The french fry dropped out of Dream’s hand.

He instantly shifted his attention from the couple to the pink haired boy he was sitting with, who was calmly eating his food as if the entire thing never happened. As if feeling Dream’s gaze on him, Techno glanced up, chewing a bite of his food as he sent a questioning gaze to the dirty blond. 

“Do you know what this means, Techno?”

When the boy’s bite was finished, he promptly rolled his eyes, all too used to Dream’s shenanigans, before he spoke. “Please enlighten me as to what this means, Dream.”

A mischievous smile broke out of the emerald eyed boy’s face一 _that never means anything good_ 一before he answered. “Well, Technoblade, since we are merely broke college students, and you get free cake here if you’re a couple on their anniversary dinner, we can exploit the system! If we pretend to be dating, we could get an entire cake to ourselves, completely free of charge!”

Techno’s expression was unimpressed, but he can’t say he wasn't intrigued by the idea. _Free cake_ and _he gets to pretend to be romantically involved with the boy who’s held his heart since they were 16? This is a complete win._

Turns out, after Techno nodded and sighed half-heartedly, that gave Dream free rein to be as dramatic as possible. That's how Techno found himself gasping excessively as Dream kneeled on the floor, a ring一which he stole from Techno’s fingers only moments ago一held in his grasp. When he started to notice the workers looking over out of the corner of his eye, he started furiously nodding his head. 

Dream smiled一 _that bright smile that causes Techno chest pains_ 一before he rose to his seat, placing the ring back to its original place, before bringing that same hand up, placing a small kiss that caused warmth一which sadly wasn’t part of the act一to rise on the pink haired boy’s cheek. Dream tried not to look smug as he saw the workers scramble to the kitchen with smiles painting their faces, failing miserably.

In the end, they got to take a cake lathered in strawberry frosting back to Dream’s dorm that he shared with George一 _Techno totally wasn’t jealous, shut up_ 一where the two “newlyweds” proceeded to eat until they felt sick. 

_It was just a joke._

-

The second time it happened, it was out of necessity. 

Techno knew Dream was attractive一 _he would not simp this hard for someone who didn’t make him want to write poems about their, frankly,_ beautiful _eyes_ 一, but he never thought it would be the blond’s downfall.

But here Techno is, making his way across a crowded dance floor towards a Dream that has never looked more out of his element.

He doesn’t want to be here at all一 _real surprising for a guy who despises talking to new people_ 一, but at this point, even Dream looks more uncomfortable than he ever has at any of these stupid frat parties their friends drag them to. This one takes place in the huge house of some random rich guy, _who will no doubt be dead by tomorrow morning if the ruined furniture is anything to go by,_ and the music pulses so loud that Techno has no doubt his ears will be ringing for hours after.

But he has no time to think about everybody’s poor eardrums as he sidesteps somebody hurling on the floor, his eyes still locked on his friend’s一 _he hates that title when it comes to Dream一_ uncomfortable face. He gently moves a random drunk girl out of his way before continuing on, _why is this house so fuckin’ big?_

When he finally catches up to the blond, who is backed against the kitchen counter by a body _much_ bulkier than his own一 _Techno has no doubt that Dream would’ve just punched the guy if he didn’t look like he could kill somebody in one hit一_ , he quickly analyzes the situation. A hand is placed on the counter next to Dream, effectively blocking one exit as the other is obscured by the wall, and the man’s face is inches from a freckled one contorted in fear.

Now, Techno’s not _suave,_ he doesn’t have the natural charm that Dream seems to possess, but he _did_ play Flynn Rider in a middle school production一before social anxiety started to kick his ass一, so at least he’s got _some_ experience when it comes to sweeping people off their feet. He sets his shoulders straight, faux confidence lining his very being as he finally arrives at the scene.

He can feel that confidence leave him as two pairs of eyes transfer to him, emerald ones filled with relief and auburn ones with enlarged pupils glazed in fury at being disturbed. He doesn’t let it show, however, his hand moving the larger one out of the way before he grabbed onto Dream’s wrist, tugging him until the blond was behind his still-set shoulders. 

He pointedly doesn’t make eye contact with the larger man as he turns sideways, so his attention can be on Dream while the creep is still in his peripheral. He interlocks his fingers with Dream一 _this is not the time to simp_ 一before speaking with a voice much louder than he’d usually use. “Babe! I’ve been lookin’ everywhere for you!”

Luckily Dream manages to catch on, moving closer to Techno so that his hands can wrap around the length of Techno’s arm, one on his bicep and the other still interlocked with Techno’s larger one一 _seriously, keep the feelings at bay for a second._ A squeeze of Techno’s hand communicates all the thanks the blond could provide at a moment like this. “Techno, I was just about to go find you! You ready to go home?”

The pinkette nodded, and he watched out of the corner of his eye as the man from earlier bristles at the exchange. He turns to the man, plastering a fake smile on his face before he speaks, his voice back to its usual monotone. “Excuse us, sir.” With that, the two turn on their heels, briskly walking to the door, despite the lack of footsteps behind them.

As soon as the fresh air hits the two’s faces, they both simultaneously let out a sigh of relief. Dream’s hand disconnects from Techno’s bicep, but the other one, surprisingly, stays locked with the pinkette’s. A smile grows on his face, not as large as the ones he usually has, but a smile nonetheless. “Thanks for that, Tech. That guy was… very persistent in getting my phone number.”

A small hum resonates from Techno’s mouth, blending with the bass practically shaking the house behind them. Their shoes are growing increasingly more wet with the night dew seeping in from the grass they’re standing on. “Want to go sleep at my dorm tonight? Wilbur will most likely sleep at someone else’s dorm, he’ll probably be too shitfaced to walk a mile.” _Techno’s so glad neither of them drink, no morning headaches to deal with._

The smile grows on the blond’s face before he nods. They begin to walk back to Techno’s room, hands still intertwined, with small smiles present on both faces. 

_It was never just to help._

-

The third time it happened, Dream was only returning the favor.

When the blond’s phone started ringing while he was studying一 _read: fidgeting with his pencil while rereading the same sentence twenty times_ 一he didn’t think much of it. When he saw the contact was Techno, he thought the pinkette might’ve been wanting to drag him to a park to read, needing to escape from Wilbur for a little bit. What he did _not_ expect was for gasping breaths and stuttered “help”s to sound over the line. 

That’s how he found himself rushing through the campus grounds in sweatpants and untied shoes, his usual green sweater left in favor of a white t-shirt that he totally didn’t steal from Techno’s house when they were sixteen一 _Yes he did, it was soft and smelt like him and the pink haired boy was going off to violin camp or something for_ weeks _and Dream wanted something to remind him of the boy he had a hopeless crush on._

When he entered the dorm room, the spare key given to him by the pinkette himself being transferred back to his pocket, he found the aforementioned stuffed into the corner of the room, his hands clutching his hair and his chest moving rapidly. Ignoring the fire in his own chest from the dead-sprint across the grounds, he swiftly made his way over to the boy, going through the motions he had learned fearfully at age fourteen. 

When the pinkette was successfully calmed down, his breathing slowly returning to normal as his head rested on Dream’s heartbeat, the blond wanted to ask what had caused the panic attack to occur一 _and then_ pummel _it into the ground, okay calm down._ Before he could open his mouth, however, Techno started to speak. 

“Sor- thank you for helping me.” An appreciative hum sounded from Dream’s throat, his hand sifting through fuschia strands. “I got an email from Mr. West earlier- I assume you saw it?” A sheepish shake of the head from Dream prompted him to continue. “Anyway, he said that we needed to _share_ a hotel room when we go on that trip to go look at those fossils or whatever. And-” the boy stuttered, his breathing threatening to become erratic again if not for the shushing from the person he trusted the most. “I just _can’t_ share a room with some random classmate, they can’t- I don’t-”

“Hey, hey, Tech, you’re okay.” Dream’s tan hand wrapped around Techno’s own pale one, earning a squeeze from the boy currently trying to calm down. Dream knew Techno’s anxiety would not allow him to sleep一to be _vulnerable一_ in a room with a person who he only knew through Mr. West’s biology class. He racked his brain for a solution, and after a couple of moments lost in thought, a metaphorical lightbulb appeared above his head. “I’ll tell you what, Techno, we can get Mr. West to let us share a room-”

“He’s not gonna allow that.” 

“-if we tell him that we’re dating!” An unimpressed glance from the head on Dream’s chest almost caused wheezing laughter to fill the air. “Think about it! If we’re dating and we had to be put in separate rooms, the hotel would get complaints about us sneaking to each other’s place. It’s foolproof!” 

The room was silent for a moment before laughter一 _that one that sounded kind of like a hyena, never failing to cause an ecstatic smile to rise to Dream’s face一_ filled it. The head on Dream’s chest shakes back and forth, the laughter slowly fizzling out. A small “you’re an idiot” was mumbled against the cloth before the head started to grow heavier. 

In the end, Mr. West believed their cover and they got to share a room一 _and if Dream was disappointed after they walked into a room with two beds, who’s to say._

_Their "cover" was too realistic._

-

The fourth time it happened, it was an accident.

The two had been lounging on a rocking bench, overlooking the pier dotted with ships, when they were rudely interrupted on their day off. They had been sitting flush together一the bench only made for one person, practically on each other’s laps一reading from the same copy of _The Art of War_ , as steps came to a stop in front of them.

As two pairs of eyes一one ruby and the other emerald一glanced over the top of the book, they caught sight of a girl their age, with pink hair a darker shade than Techno’s, a large camera dangling on a strap around her neck. She had a sheepish smile and every couple of seconds her fingers would tap along the lens of the camera, almost as if to ensure the dark lens cap was still there. 

Dream was about to open his mouth to greet the other when she started to speak, her voice soft with a prominent accent. “Hello, I don’t mean to disturb you, but could I take a picture of you two for the couples’ page of the yearbook?”

Dream, mind still reeling from trying to figure out what is possibly going on in the ancient book after getting roughly three hours of sleep last night, stares at the girl before he physically shakes himself. “Uh, yeah, sure.” He didn’t hear any complaints from the boy beside him, who’s steady rocking of the seat never ceased during the conversation. 

Dream gently lowered the book, the pages no longer obscuring their faces, before he smiles as well as he can with barely any consciousness of what is going on. He could see the pinkette, barely looking better than him in the sleep department, smile as well out of the corner of his eye. The shutter of a camera sounds, a small hum filling the air as the girl assesses the picture. 

She must deem it good enough, for after a few seconds, she smiles brightly and waves goodbye, walking back the way she came. When only a speck of her was visible in the distance, Dream’s head fell heavily against the shoulder next to him. A hand comes up to scratch his scalp, further lulling him to an early sleep. 

As darkness starts to overtake his vision, one final thought reverberates through the cotton in his ears. _He took a photo with Techno, as a supposed couple, and neither of them said anything about it._ As a small kiss is placed in his hair, he can’t find it in him to mind the slip-up. 

_The words were so natural, as if they've done this their entire life._

-

The fifth time it happened, neither of them know what fueled them.

Decorations had been sprung up all around campus for weeks before the actual dance had happened. Techno hadn’t wanted to go, and was planning on feigning sickness, until Dream showed up to his dorm room one evening, five days before the night of the dance. Somehow, through his smart words一 _it totally didn’t have anything to do with the thought of seeing Dream in a suit_ 一the boy had managed to persuade the pinkette into attending the gala. 

That’s how Techno found himself, an uncomfortable suit contorting around his figure, standing in a room full of classmates he’s never met. _This is just like the frat parties, hopefully nobody insists on getting Dream’s number this time or Techno is going to have some words._

The aforementioned blond is nowhere in sight, but as he feels a buzz in his pocket, he assumes the boy had just arrived. His assumption was correct as the blond walked through the venue doors, a black suit hugging his slim figure, his emerald eyes searching before a wide smile crosses his face as he spots Techno. 

Techno一 _who totally could breathe correctly right now, there is absolutely_ nothing _causing his heart to skip a beat_ 一simply watches as the dirty blond makes his way over, multiple pairs of eyes following his every move as he sways around dancers. When he finally stops right in front of the pinkette, he takes a moment to rake his emerald eyes over his figure, humming appreciatively as he continues.

“You look very pretty, Techno.” The aforementioned knows his suit isn’t anything fancy, a simple black outfit with gold accents, the entire look mainly pulled together by intricate braids in Techno’s pink hair一courtesy of Niki, who ended up being a lovely friend after the whole photo event (which Techno does _not_ think about all the time, not a chance)一and the golden jewelry hanging from his neck, his wrists, and his ears. _However,_ he finds, _he could definitely start to feel worthy of the title if Dream keeps saying it in that caramel voice of his._

“Thank you.”

“But you know how it would be better?” Techno audibly swallows as Dream walks ever closer, until their chests are almost against each other’s, ruby eyes watching as tan hands come up to Techno’s chest. Those fingers, _which Techno so desperately wishes would just rest on his chest,_ softly grab the rose out of the jacket pocket, bringing it closer to his own chest as he swaps it out with his own green carnation, the flower looking out of his place in its new home on Techno’s chest, but he can’t find it in him to mind. “Would you care to dance, Techno?”

_How is his heart supposed to refuse that?_

Instead of answering, Techno reaches a hand out, waiting until Dream lightly places his own in the grasp, before he guides them both into a waltz. When the two were sixteen, Dream had been entirely focused on learning the waltz, and nobody, _besides Techno and the traitorous organ that lives in his chest practically forcing him to agree,_ had wanted to play the part of the other dancer. Now, they both hold the knowledge of how to properly waltz around a room, _which doesn’t come in handy nearly as much as Dream thought it was going to._

But now, as the two make their way in a slow circle, Techno can’t say he’s mad about the late nights he spent getting his toes stepped on. The world around the two falls away, ruby eyes continuously locked with emerald as they go through the steps that are all muscle memory by now. There’s no teenage clumsiness, no laughing at messed up parts一 _no Techno basking in the sound of wheezing laughter, wondering what the warmth in his chest meant_ 一, it was only well-practiced movements with two very comfortable partners.

_It was perfect._

Techno barely realizes the dance was finished. Only when his feet instinctively stopped moving, his eyes still locked on the figure in front of him, did his surroundings start to come back. A couple people around him were staring in awe, but luckily nobody was making a big fuss out of the fact that they just performed an intricate performance at a meaningless college dance. 

The two ignored everybody around them, merely bumping shoulders as they walked together towards the cooler of waters nearby, laughing occasionally as they caught sight of some frankly horrible dancing. As they were standing there, attempting to cool off in the stifling hot room, a person came up to them. Techno didn’t know them, and judging by the confused gaze of Dream, he didn’t either, but that didn’t seem to deter them.

“Um, I just wanted to say that was a really cool dance you guys did! You two look really cute together, and um, you seem to make a great couple! Okay, that’s all I wanted to say, bye now.”

With that, the stranger left, back to their group of friends that seemed to lighten up at their presence. Techno simply glanced at Dream, a private smile shared between the two, before the blond started telling a story about the history class he had earlier that day. 

_When did they stop denying it?_

-

The sixth time it happened, it was intentional.

The two were sitting in a circle with their closest friends, both holding a deck of colorful cards, their shoulders bumping together with every shift. Dream was currently debating his next move, wondering if placing the +4 card down would be worth no hand holding for a week, before ultimately deciding that _no, nothing is worth losing hand holding privileges,_ and promptly drawing a card from the deck.

He attempts to hide his smug smile behind two cards as Techno places down his final card, the entire circle groaning as they realize that they’ve lost _again_ to either Dream or Techno. As a couple people got up, likely to either grab a snack or to get a new game, Techno subtly grabbed Dream’s hand, their fingers interlocking together perfectly. The dirty blond glances over from where he was watching Puffy gather the Uno deck, his eyes full of mischief and satisfaction, despite his recent loss. 

“What?” Even the dirty blond’s voice is smug, quiet enough for only the two of them to hear.

“Why’d you let me win? I know you had that +4 card, you could’ve won easily, so why didn’t you?” Techno’s tone is genuinely curious, as if he’s oblivious to the fact that he would without a doubt withhold physical affection一jokingly, of course一until he got over his loss.

Before Dream can open his mouth to explain himself, a groan sounds from the entrance to the living room, evidently from Wilbur as he stands there, holding a bag of chips and sounding like he’d rather be anywhere else. “Why are you guys _still_ pretending to date right now? It’s just us in here, we’ve all stopped trying to get you to realize what’s _really_ happening between you two.”

With the smug smile still present, Dream brings up the hand still intertwined with Techno’s, placing a small kiss on the skin before lowering it again. “Well, Wilbur, we must be really good actors because we actually _are_ dating this time.” The smile on Techno’s face that appeared after the kiss was placed on his skin only widened at his boyfriend’s一 _boyfriend! Techno's going to combust_ 一words.

The rest of the afternoon was scrapped in favor of the two getting placed on the sofa before promptly being _interrogated_ by the people they call their friends. The smiles on their faces never fade and their hands stay intertwined throughout the entire thing.

_It all makes sense in the end._

**Author's Note:**

> I hope everyone enjoyed that :]
> 
> also I have a Twitter now! the username is scout_eki :]


End file.
